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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26382100">five times JJ or Kie kissed the other as friends + 1 time they were definitely not friends</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/blackwoodhart/pseuds/blackwoodhart'>blackwoodhart</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Outer Banks (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst with a Happy Ending, F/M, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, These idiots are in love, Underage Drinking, jj is dumb, so is kiara</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-09-09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-09-09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 08:42:49</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>9,705</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26382100</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/blackwoodhart/pseuds/blackwoodhart</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff"><p>come say hi on tumblr @simpforjiara<br/>or check out my instagram @svaintz<br/>&lt;3</p></div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>JJ/Kiara (Outer Banks), JJ/Kie</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>93</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>five times JJ or Kie kissed the other as friends + 1 time they were definitely not friends</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p class="p1">
  <b>
    <em>ONE</em>
  </b>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">Kiara was always there.</p><p class="p1">Ever since John B had dragged her into his circle, no matter how hard JJ had tried to fight it, Kiara was a permanent fixture in their lives.</p><p class="p1">She had managed to worm her way into their group, with more than enough love for each of them, even when they might not deserve it. Kiara was always getting them out of trouble, patching their wounds and arguing with their teachers whenever one of the boys managed to get a detention.</p><p class="p1">She stopped getting JJ out of detention after his teacher had called Luke Maybank to explain to let that his son would be staying back each day that week, instead, she landed herself a spot next to him. Eleven years old and in detention for cussing out her fifth-grade teacher, Miss Ellis.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">Kiara’s parents had been beyond disappointed in her, lecturing her about the influence of the boys from the Cut she was constantly hanging out with. They bickered across the table with one another when Anna said she wished she’d never sent Kiara to Kildare Elementary.</p><p class="p1">“I went to Kildare, Anna.” Mike had said in a low voice, his eyes shining with hurt, “and I know those boys parents, they’re good kids”.</p><p class="p1">Anna had glared at him across the table.</p><p class="p1">“What about that Maybank boy, hmm? You and I know both know what Luke is like.”</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">It was the first Kiara had heard anything about JJ’s dad. He usually chose to keep quiet when families were brought up, would palm off any questions on father’s day to John B, who would tell everyone that Big John was JJ’s dad anyway.</p><p class="p1">“Not in front of Kiara, Anna. Don’t you bring that man up in front of her! That’s her friend, whether you like it or not”.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">Mike had walked off, remaining in the kitchen for the rest of the day and Kie had retreated to her bedroom where she sat weaving at the threads Big John had gifted her for her birthday the previous month. She’d grabbed the first threads she could snatch up, black and white and cream, and begun to weave them in and out of each other. Her mine raced over what her parents could possibly know about Luke Maybank that Kiara didn’t. She knew JJ’s mum wasn’t in the picture, something she’d managed to drag out of John B on mother’s day in the third grade, when JJ had refused to go to school and John B had stopped by the Wreck that afternoon.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">The threads had slowly progressed into a long twisting pattern of plain colours.</p><p class="p1">She’d presented it to JJ the next afternoon in detention.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">“Close your eyes,” Kiara had said, leant across her table in the afternoon sun, “I made something for you”. She had chosen the word <em>made</em> purposefully for two reasons; the first being JJ hated to be bought <em>anything</em> by anyone, especially someone with Kook parents, the second being she felt he was less likely to laugh in her face if he knew she’d made it herself.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">As JJ obliged, she took his left hand and turned his palm upright. It hovered above the table as she tied the neat ends together.</p><p class="p1">She chewed on her lip as she dropped her hands and leant back in her seat, “open”.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">J’s eyes slowly opened and drifted down to his wrist. His right hand came up to trace the lines on the bracelet, twisting his wrist to see it from all angles. His face spilt into a grin and she found his arms around her, holding her tightly as he laughed into her ear.</p><p class="p1">“Thank you Kie, this is the best birthday ever.”</p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p1">Birthday.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">She hadn’t known it was his birthday.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">He hadn’t mentioned a single thing, not like Kie had on hers, showing up late to class and showing her boys the next bike her parents had gotten her that recess.</p><p class="p1">She didn’t let the shock show on her face, instead, closing to smile gently back at him.</p><p class="p1">“Happy birthday JJ”.</p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p1">When he wasn’t looking, distracted my the English sheet set in front of him, Kiara took a moment to text her dad.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <b>Dad</b>
</p><p class="p3"> </p><p class="p1">
  <em>Emergency: can I bring JJ to the Wreck after detention? I didn’t know it was his birthday!!!</em>
</p><p class="p1">
  <em>Love, Kie</em>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">His reply came through shortly before detention ended.</p><p class="p2">
  <b>Dad</b>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <em>Don’t tell your mother… You two can have the little booth by the windows. Want to invite John B and Pope?</em>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">She had immediately texted the other two boys who both admitted to knowing it was JJ’s birthday and agreed to meet them at the school gates in twenty minutes.</p><p class="p1">Just when it seemed like JJ couldn’t get happier he always did.</p><p class="p1">The smile Kiara’s bracelet had put on his face hadn’t slipped once, only briefly replaced by curiosity when Kiara dragged him towards the East gates.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">It was the best birthday ever. The Pogues sat in the corner by the window, a steady supply of burgers and fries being sent their way from the kitchen. Mike was smiling at them from he counter when Kiara skipped up to ask her dad for ice-cream spiders. John B and Pope had a contest to see who could blow the most bubbles into their cup and JJ timed the pair from his side of the table.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">As John B and Pope spoke between themselves, loud and carefree as eleven-year-olds do, Kie felt a warm hand come to rest on her leg. JJ was smiling at her, full toothed grin. Leaning, he came to rest his head on her shoulder.</p><p class="p1">“Thank you, Kie, really. This is the best night ever.”</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">He didn’t let the Pogues walk him home, but Mike insisted he wait until closing with Kiara so that he could drop JJ home. JJ put up a small protest but relented when Mike’s large hand patted him gently on the shoulder.</p><p class="p1">“Its the least I can do kid, you’ve made my girl very happy these past few years.”</p><p class="p1">Kiara felt herself redden as JJ looked down at his shoes and mumbled an ‘okay sir’.</p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p1">JJ stopped and stood in the driveway when Mike dropped him off. Kiara jumped out to say goodnight properly.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">“You didn’t know, did you Kie?” He asked, it was gentle, no malice in his words, “its okay, hey!” His hand came up to lift her eyes to meet his and she saw his smile was still there.</p><p class="p1">“I didn’t tell anyone at all”.</p><p class="p1">“Well you should have, J! I’d anyways want to celebrate with you, you deserve a happy birthday.”</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">A light came on in the house.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">“I gotta go, Kie, thank you for everything, tell your dad I said thank you too.” He leant forward and pressed the gentlest kiss to her cheek before disappearing through his front door, turning only to wave her goodbye as Mike turned out of their street.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">It was the best birthday JJ had for a long time.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <b>
    <em>TWO</em>
  </b>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">The summer after Kiara’s Kook Year, she had expected JJ to ignore her for all of it.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">He had made a point of walking out of every room she entered, crossing the street when they passed in town or leaving parties she attended, even if she was with John B or Pope. She’d tried her hardest, been nothing but kind, always brining enough food for him to have a share or making sure to leave a space empty next to her at the Chateau.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">When she had shown up on the front porch of the Chateau JJ hadn’t exactly given her the warm welcome she’d hoped for, not that she thought she deserved one.</p><p class="p1">She knocked once and waited, the door cracking open after a few moments. The first thing Kiara thought was, <em>when did he get that tall?</em></p><p class="p1">His sun-bleached hair was longer now too and he rubbed sleep blearily from his eyes as if he’d just emerged from a nap. She suddenly noticed, with a jarring feeling in her chest, that he was shirtless.</p><p class="p1">“Oh, no thanks.”</p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p1">The door slammed shut in her face and she heard Pope’s voice call from the kitchen asking who it was.</p><p class="p1">“Fucking Kook,” she heard JJ reply, “don’t bother” he said to the pair of feet approaching the door.</p><p class="p1">John B had been the one to let her in that morning, also shirtless, and made her a cup of tea while she sat on the couch opposite JJ and Pope, who hadn’t yet met her eye. She explained her situation, apologised more times than she could count.</p><p class="p1">While they sat in silence, the boys trying to gauge off each other what they wanted to do with the situation, she couldn’t help notice the bracelet tied around JJ’s wrist, worse for wear, but still there.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">As she counted the grains in the bottom of her mug, JJ broke the silence</p><p class="p1">“sure guys, she’s welcome back, just don’t be surprised when she leaves again” and then the patio door was slamming behind him followed by the sound of his motorbike skidding along the dirt driveway.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">It took Kie nearly a month to get JJ to talk to her again. She couldn’t have done it without the help of John B and Pope, who she’d been seeing the whole time. It didn’t help that JJ had to go out of his way to avoid her. He practically lived at the Chateau, with most of his belongings in the room that used to belong to Big John., but was now spending his time literally anywhere else. The sound of her car was always followed by the sound of the backdoor swinging shut. With every door she opened, there was another on the other side that he could slam in her face.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">Kiara’s heart was hollow and cold despite the warm summer afternoon. She sat in John B’s dirt driveway, the engine switched off, staring at her hands, tightly gripping the steering wheel. If she drove away now, she’d just have to wonder for the rest of her life what could have happened if she had stayed. If she stayed, she would have to deal with the consequences if JJ turned away from her, and she would definitely carry that with her for the rest of her life.</p><p class="p1">He didn’t hear her close her door behind her as she walked across the lawn, nor did he hear her footfalls on the deck.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">He was sat in the late afternoon sun, legs swinging as he perched on the edge of the Chateau’s dock. His head was tipped back, red baseball cap pushing his hair out of his eyes, which were closed against the sun. She stopped a few steps from him, watching. He looked at peace, a state it was often hard to find him in. Or maybe it wasn’t anymore, she didn’t know. She’d been out of his life for five months now, how much could have changed?</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">Her next step must have caught his attention.</p><p class="p1">“Finally, please tell me you brought me a beer John B.” He called over his shoulder, eyes still shut against the sun.</p><p class="p1">It was now or never.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">Kie took three more steps forward and sank down next to JJ, who still hadn’t opened his eyes.</p><p class="p1">The pop of a beer bottle finally made him turn towards her and he jumped slightly when he saw Kiara, back in her Pogue clothes, beer in a hand stretched towards him.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">“Oh for fuc-“ he started, hands coming up to rub at his face.</p><p class="p1">“No, JJ stop and listen to me!”</p><p class="p1">He froze, hands covering his eyes like he was praying he could open them again and suddenly she would be gone. Kiara took this as a sign to keep talking.</p><p class="p1">“I’ve been trying to reach you for weeks, J, weeks! You keep running for me and I can’t do that anymore, not when its you I missed the most.”</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">JJ scoffed, hands settling beside him, one snatching the beer from her.</p><p class="p1">“Sure have a funny way of showing it, Kiara.”</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">Kiara, not Kie. In that moment she feared she would never hear her nickname from his mouth ever again. The fear spurred her forward.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">“You know how good it feels to be a Kook! You know how easy it is to get swept away in all that!”</p><p class="p1">“Yeah, but you didn’t have to stop seeing your <em>best friends</em> Kiara.”</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">She tore her gaze away from his face and stared out at the setting sun. If it were a year before, JJ would have his arm around her, making some sort of stupid joke. She closed her eyes and tried to imagine the feeling of his laugh as he hugged her, the was he looked at her from the passenger seat of her car.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">“I can’t fix it, JJ. I really can’t. I can’t make it up to you at all. I left, I promised you I wouldn’t leave but I did and I didn’t just disappear I fell off the face of the earth.” She looked back to him to find him staring, mouth in a thin line. The silence continued for a few more moments, only filled by the sound of water lapping against the warped wood.</p><p class="p1">“If I never get your trust back again then I understand, JJ.”</p><p class="p1">She turned to face him, her leg sliding up underneath her. She took a breath and placed her hand over his, where the tattered bracelet hung on his wrist.</p><p class="p1">“I miss you, and I’m so so sorry.”</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">He stared down at their hands. Maybe she’d gone too far. She waited for him to tear his hand from her’s and cuss her out right then and there.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">“Goddamnit, Kie, His eyes didn’t leave their hands as he spoke, “do you know how hard it has been to hate you? How hard I’ve been trying for the past month to act like I would actually be okay without you around? The past five months of my life I went hunting for you at every damn Kook party I could manage to not get myself kicked out of and once you came back? God. I just couldn’t bear it, just when I’d given up on you, you decide to appear at the door?”</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">As he spoke, JJ had brought their hands up to eye level and he was weaving his fingers in and out of hers. His lips were pressed against her knuckles, light as a feather, gone as soon as they came.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">“I shouldn’t have missed you like that Kie.”</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">Then he was walking back up to the Chateau, calling John B’s name.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <b>
    <em>THREE</em>
  </b>
</p><p class="p1">Keggers were always a spectacle.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">Everyone was always invited, no matter which side of the island you came from, the Boneyard was the only neutral ground. Pogues and Kooks would talk, dance, even hookup on the flat sand plane under the stars to the sound of heavy bass boosted music. It was a guaranteed good time, every time.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">As someone who’s social battery had no limit, JJ was at his prime whenever they went to a Kegger. The Pogues always hosted, with gratuitous Keggs contributed by both sides of the island. He would spend hours manning the keg, occasionally charging the tourons a little extra, to which the Pogues turned a blind eye to. It’s a dog eat dog world after all.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">Occasionally (see almost every time) JJ would find himself with a girl wrapped round his chest as he poured cheap warm beer into the cups of rowdy teens. He was well aware of the eyes that followed him as he would walk by, the necks snapping to look, the backs straightening, hair flipping and legs extending across fine white sand. JJ was no stranger to a night in the trees with a girl who’s name would slip his mind.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">Tonight was no exception.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">The girl wrapped around him tonight was tall and blonde with thick dark makeup and a smile that flashed like diamonds. She laughed at all his jokes and sent him looks that should have sent chills through him. Should have.</p><p class="p1">Wandering eyes were his chronic illness. The night usually never ended with the same girl it started with, much to the amusement of his friends, who often were gifted the task of making sure she left while he was in the bathroom.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">Tonights kegger was a special occasion, even it the Pogues were the only ones who knew. It was Kiara’s grand return to the Cut. Once she and JJ were seen walking through town, his arm around her shoulder, laughing at something Pope had just said, there was a definitive line drawn through the sand. A truce with no potential bad ending.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">Pope came up to the keg, cup full of something brown that didn’t smell strong at all. Knowing him it was probably 90% water, but the girl next to him didn’t need to know that.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">“JJ, man! My turn on the keg. You’ve been here for about an hour!” He took a glance at the blonde girl, who’s arm was lingering loosely on JJ’s waist, chatting animatedly to another girl. Certainly tourons. “You look like you’ve got some stuff to handle.”</p><p class="p1">But that ‘stuff’ was no longer on JJ’s mind.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">Looking past Pope he saw Kiara dancing by the fire, a look of discomfort on her face that anyone else would have passed off as lacklustre enjoyment. To her right, only a few feet from her was a guy with dark brown hair and a grin plastered across his face. While JJ as used to the stares he encountered, flattered by them, Kiara was not. She was easily one of the most beautiful girls on the island, one no amount of tanned tourons could add up to.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">He turned back to the girl, who was looking between him and Kiara with something like hurt flashing behind her eyes. JJ chewed at his lip, for once looking for the right way to let her down easy.</p><p class="p1">“I have to take care of something, I’m sorry, but Pope will introduce you to John B, won’t you Pope?” Pope looked murderous.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">He made off across the sand to the fire, not stopping to chat to those who said hey.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">Kiara started at the hand that slipped around her waist, spinning to look at him. She had a wild look in her eyes, frantic. Her hair was messy and her curls were coming loose from the loose bun she’d had them tied in.</p><p class="p1">“SHIT JJ! You scared the hell out of me!” She batted at his chest with a little more force than usual.</p><p class="p1">“Bit on edge?”</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">She rolled her eyes and he noticed the gold that she’d put on them tonight, the Kook in her still shining through, despite her desperation to throw that life away. Last week he’d helped her rifle through her drawers, getting buried under the clothes he deemed ‘too kook’.</p><p class="p1">“You could say that.”</p><p class="p1">“Anything to do with Romeo over there?” JJ took a place at the guy from before, who hadn’t strayed far from his space from before.</p><p class="p1">Kie tossed her head back and laughed, still dancing in front of him like nothing was wrong.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">“A lot to do with him”</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">“Well I’m here now”</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">Kie shot him a dark look, a mixture of confusion and concern.</p><p class="p1">“What’s that meant to mean?”</p><p class="p1">“Dance with me, idiot!”</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">“I am” she gestured between them with a smile.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">She looped her arms up around his neck and they moved with the music, his arms wrapping around her waist, coming to rest on the small of her back. JJ noticed the guy from before watching them, standing still. His friends were a few metres away sitting on the driftwood, laughing.</p><p class="p1">Their reactions sent a rush of adrenaline through JJ, who was entirely wrapped up in the feeling of Kiara in his arms. Their legs were between each others, the space between them long forgotten.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">“Hey Kie”</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">It was quiet, murmured in her ear so that only she could hear. He knew how intimate it must look to the people around them but there was no other way to talk to her without the guy noticing what they were up to.</p><p class="p1">She hummed in response, her eyes shut as they continued moving with the music. It was loud and slower than the previous songs, not the kind you’d hear at some middle school dance, but one that made their dancing look like something the casual passer by shouldn’t be watching.</p><p class="p1">“I know what will get him to piss off for good”</p><p class="p1">Kiara looked up at him through dark lashes. They were so close that he could feel her breath on his face, the smell of beer and a hint of something stronger.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">“Kiss me”</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">He’d expected her to give him a hit. Brush him off or toss her head back laughing the way she usually did whenever he flirted with her. Instead she kept staring at him, no hint of stopping.</p><p class="p1">JJ barely had time to reconsider his words when her lips crashed onto his.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">They weren’t dancing anymore.</p><p class="p1">His hands crept up her back, pulling her closer as hers made their way into his hair, their mouths pressed hotly together as she kissed him deeper.</p><p class="p1">If he had any sense, morals even, JJ would have stepped back by now. The kiss had surely had its intended effect on the guy. But he didn’t.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">Kie was foreign territory. Her No Pogue on Pogue Macking rule had been firmly in place since they were all kids, but the lines were blurred now and JJ couldn’t focus on anything but the way her lips felt on his.</p><p class="p1">She tugged gently at his hair as his fingers tightened on her waist, pulling her closer still, which previously he had thought wasn’t humanly possible.</p><p class="p1">She stepped back first, bringing her hand up to hold his one on her waist in place, lacing her fingers through his.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">“Wanna go home?”</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">To anyone else, it looked like she was inviting him for more, and to no surprise that’s exactly what wold be said the following week when JJ showed up the school, but he knew what she meant. It was unspoken.</p><p class="p1">
  <em>Come home and get wasted with me. Forget with me.</em>
</p><p class="p1">Who could say no to an offer like that?</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">So they stumbled back up the beach, JJ making a pointed look at the guy who looked royally pissed off at the way JJ’s hand was in Kie’s.</p><p class="p1">They went home and got absolutely blasted off the weed JJ kept at the Chateau and laughed about everything that had just happened.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">If he fell asleep that night on the pullout with Kiara’s head on his arm, so be it. If he brushed the curls out of her face while she slept, what of it?</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">If he dreamt of her lips and the promises they never made that night, no one ever needed to know.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <b>
    <em>FOUR</em>
  </b>
</p><p class="p1">Kook year had paid off.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">Kiara’s time with Sarah Cameron hadn’t gone un-noticed by those form the Cut. Sarah had taught her a lot about being a girl, something Kiara was surprised to find she knew little about. Its hard to grasp at the straws of femininity when your free time is spent with a pack of grubby boys.</p><p class="p1">One of the few lessons Kiara had learnt was how to use her body to her advantage. After one of her long rants about objectification and the rights of a woman’s own body, Sarah had taken one long look at her and said,</p><p class="p1">“Wanna learn how to get drinks?”</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">An offer like the couldn’t be turned down.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">She had watched Sarah walk into the corner store on the edge of Figure Eight, hair down and shirt low. In a matter of minutes she had returned, stuffing a brown paper bag into her purse.</p><p class="p1">“That’s how you do it.”</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">So Kiara had learnt to use her new found confidence (and boobs) to work her way into getting whatever alcohol she chose without getting carded. The first few times had been nerve wracking, hands sweating as she leant against the counter to make idle chat with the boy working behind it. She was out in a flash.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">Tonight, JJ had come to the startling realisation that they’d run out of alcohol. As the boys let out groans Kiara had stood from her seat on the sofa and walked over to the kitchen bench to retrieve her wallet.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">“Whiskey or vodka?” She asked calmly, making her way to the door, checking for her card.</p><p class="p1">The boys stared at her.</p><p class="p1">“Uhhhh?” John B said intelligently.</p><p class="p1">“Whatevers cheap and gets me smashed,” said JJ as he stood to join her by the door, “I’ll drive us”.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">They made their way down to his bike, which was propped against a tree in the driveway and JJ handed her a helmet from the back of his bike.</p><p class="p1">“Won’t you need one?” She asked, noting the lack of a second.</p><p class="p1">“Hmm?,” he asked, turning slightly from where he sat in front of her, “oh me? No. Gotta keep my personal credit card safe.”</p><p class="p1">Kie laughed and swatted at his shoulder before locking her hands around his waist.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">Driving on the back of JJ’s bike was always something that left Kie feeling a little unbalanced. He had incredible control over the vehicle, unsurprising when you consider the way he surfed, and could make the bumpy ride to town seem almost enjoyable. He let out whoops of joy as they sped down one of the straighter streets, thankfully empty, pushing the speedometer up higher.</p><p class="p1">“Slow down speed demon!” She called, hoping he could hear her over the roar of the engine. There was nothing to be scared of, JJ knew these streets like the back of his hand, knew where every pot hole was, each turn and bend.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">They pulled up in front of the corner store in a matter of minutes. Kie slid off and stretched her arms above her head, letting some of the tension from their high speed ride wear out. She then slipped out of her tank, which she stuffed into the waistband of JJ’s shorts and handing him the helmet she faced him again.</p><p class="p1">“Cheap and strong?</p><p class="p1">“Cheap and strong! Don’t they have a no shirt no service rule in places like this, Kie?” JJ’s eyes were wide as he did his best to look anywhere but her chest, which was now only covered by her bikini top.</p><p class="p1">“Listen, for me its no shirt <em>or</em> no service. Take what you get.”</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">A smirk crept onto his face.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">“I’ll take it alright”</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">“JJ!” She cried, exasperation masking her laughter. With one final thumbs-up, she made her way into the store.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">The liquor was at the back, so she lost sight of JJ through the windows, though she could hear him whistling.</p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p1">Making her way back to the counter, she placed the bottle of vodka down and flashed her flirtiest smile at the man behind it.</p><p class="p1">“Big night planned?” He asked, smiling back. Sometimes, you just got someone who couldn’t be bothered to check.</p><p class="p1">“Oh yeah!” She said with a laugh, “my boyfriend just finished college and is back in town this weekend”.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">Lucky for Kiara, JJ had his back to the entrance, all you could see of him was his blonde hair and tanned legs as he wrapped Kiara’s shirt around his hands and stared off into a tree across the street. The Maybanks were known around here, and one look at JJ would have told the man exactly who he was.</p><p class="p1">Kiara paid quickly and smiled at the man again, taking the bottle and walking back out as he told her to “have a good night kids!”</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">As she approached JJ unwound her tank from around his fist, holding it out her with a smile.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">“Done and dusted! God bless bikinis!” He cried to the car passing by.</p><p class="p1">“Oh shut up JJ!”</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">“Gentlemen! Our lord and saviour: bikini girl!” JJ announced as the front door clanged shut behind them.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">John B and Pope cheered from the kitchen, where someone had started up the radio and they were making something to eat.</p><p class="p1">“Okay, no!,” she set the bottle on the bench with a thud and shoved Pope away from the cutting board, “none of you are ever cooking again. Remember when John B’s chicken was so undercooked we spent the night taking rotations at the toilet?”</p><p class="p1">“Come on, Kie! That was one time. Besides, at least we missed school.” He protested from the oven, where there was in fact chicken cooking away inside.</p><p class="p1">“Some of us needed to be there,” Kiara exclaimed, “some of us missed their biology exam!”</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">“Eh potato potato,” came JJ’s voice from the couch, “Kiara’s cooking is like ten times better than yours, John B. Hate to break it to you.</p><p class="p1">They all laughed at the look on John B’s face and he immediately dove for JJ, who countered John B’s action by sending both of them crashing to the floor.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">“Care to explain what JJ meant by ‘bikini girl’, Kie? Pope asked over his shoulder, still watching the boys wrestling.</p><p class="p1">JJ sat up from the floor, sending John B into the coffee table.</p><p class="p1">“She’s a girl, dude. She literally took her top off and got in and out in five minutes!”</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">John B and Pope turned to stare at her.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">“Okay gross guys! I had my bikini <em>on</em> thank you very much.” They all nodded quietly and JJ took the moment to thwack John B up the head, where he sat rubbing it.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">JJ walked to the fridge and pulled out a mixer, swiftly pouring it into glasses. He slipped past Kiara to reach around her for the vodka where is sat abandoned by the sink. He kissed the side of the bottle and poured it into the glasses.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">After a few drinks and dinner had been demolished, they stood around the kitchen, laughing and dancing.</p><p class="p1">“A toast! To Kiara who will now be buying us drinks twice a week!”</p><p class="p1">“To Kiara!” The boys chorused and they all fell about laughing, downing their fifth drink that evening.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">She felt JJ’s arm sling across her shoulder and before she could shove him off he grabbed her and pressed a hard kiss on the side of her head.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">The other two thought nothing of it, continuing to dance and talk which JJ joined them in. Kie, on the other hand, put her hand to where JJ’s lips had touched her head. She could still feel the pressure of them. His simple flirting had never had any body behind it, always lighthearted with no expectations, but since the kegger she’d kissed him at things had been riled up in her mind. She suddenly found herself watching him when he thought no one was looking. Found herself thinking about the kiss constantly</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">But its JJ, he probably hasn’t even thought about it since. Friends help friends escape creeps, right?</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <b>
    <em>FIVE</em>
  </b>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">When John B and Sarah had disappeared to the Bahamas, things had been thrown totally off course.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">JJ had been frantic for weeks, no word, complete radio silence. Things had gotten pretty desperate. He had spent a week alone at the Chateau. With both Kie and Pope under lock and key all hours of the day, barely having their phones enough to check in one him, JJ found himself alone. Alone with his thoughts and too much weed, his nights rolled into one. By week two he realised he needed more clothes. He didn’t have the money and he wasn’t about to show up on the Carrera’s doorstep to ask for some. God knows how that would go.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <em>Hey Mrs and Mrs C! Just need to borrow a hundred dollars so I can replace all the clothes I’m too scared to go and get.</em>
</p><p class="p1">Yeah, not plausible.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">Kiara had shown up in the middle of the day in the middle of the third week.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">She’d flung the door open and raced into his arms. Tears were streaming steadily from her eyes and she didn’t let go of JJ for a long time. They’d stood in the doorway for a small while, but when it was clear that she wasn’t letting go any time soon, JJ picked her up like child and carried her to the couch, where they remained for the rest of the afternoon. Once she had finally stop crying, which he didn’t judge her for one but, she had leant against his chest and taken a minute to breathe.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">“I’m sorry I couldn’t have been here sooner, J. Mum and dad had me at home the whole while. Pope’s parents aren’t even considering it yet.” She was mumbling into the front of his shirt.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">JJ had never seen Kiara, brave and strong Kiara, look so small in his life. Not when they were eight years old and she came off her bike and landed on the gutter with a crack. Not when John B had finally yelled at her for not being there when Big John disappeared. Not when she finally told them about Sarah.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">Yet here she was, curled on the couch of their best friends house, trying her hardest to put on a brave face.</p><p class="p1">“Hey, Kie, hey its alright.” He brushed some hair from her face, tucking it behind her ear. “I get it, okay? You’re here now and that’s what matters.”</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">They didn’t sleep alone that night.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">Kiara woke to the sound of the coffee machine whirring from the kitchen.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">“J?” She called, sitting up and rubbing blearily at her eyes against the morning sun. When did she fall asleep?</p><p class="p1">“Here!” His voice came from what used to be Big John’s bedroom. JJ had taken residence there over the past few months, which was more than understandable.</p><p class="p1">She rose from the couch and stumbled to the door to find him propped up in bed with a book in his hands.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">“Since when do you read?” He laughed at her words and patted the space beside him.</p><p class="p1">“Figured I should see what Pope’s always on about.”</p><p class="p1">Kie crawled across the bed and under the sheet that had been pooled at the end of the bed, a reminder of the stinking summer they were still living. She watched JJ read. He actually looked calm, turning the pages and occasionally asking her what a word meant, never taking his eyes off the book.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">“Hey, JJ?”</p><p class="p1">He hummed in response.</p><p class="p1">“Have you thought about going back for your stuff?”</p><p class="p1">“Back where?” He still wasn’t looking at her.</p><p class="p1">“To your dads.”</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">He turned another page.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">“The thought has crossed my mind a couple times.”</p><p class="p1">Kie drew a breath, already prepared for the response she knew she would get.</p><p class="p1">“I was thinking, only if you wanted, we could both go back today? Both of u-“</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">The book snapped shut and JJ’s head snapped to look at her.</p><p class="p1">“No.”</p><p class="p1">“No?”</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">He shook his head, dropping the book onto the sheets and bringing his hands to his face.</p><p class="p1">“You’re not going there, Kiara. Not a chance in hell.” He said through his fingers, “you know you can’t”.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">Kiara hummed before standing up and walking to the lounge room. She went to her shoes where they lay abandoned by the couch, slipping them on and deftly tying knots before walking to the kitchen to grab her bag. The sound of her keys brought JJ from his room.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">“Kiara?” He asked, his voice wary.</p><p class="p1">She hummed again, not looking at him as she crossed to the door.</p><p class="p1">“Where do you think you’re going?” He’d moved from the doorway and was standing by the couch, still a few feet from her.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">She turned away and put her hand on the door, ready to move quickly.</p><p class="p1">“Your dads.”</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">In a flash, JJ was closing in on her and she swung the door open, bounding down the front steps and down onto the grass.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">“Kiara don’t you dare!” His voice called from the porch. She unlocked her car and she sped towards it, swinging the door open and slamming it behind her as he made it to the driveway. She locked it just as he reached the driver’s side.</p><p class="p1">JJ tried the door once as Kiara started the engine, his eyes filled with something she couldn’t place. Fear?</p><p class="p1">“Please Kie!” His hand was on her window and she lowered it so that she could speak.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">“I’m going, JJ. Either you come with me or you don’t.”</p><p class="p1">The passenger seat was quickly occupied and she reversed out of the driveway without saying a word.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">Most of the drive was in tense silence. The Maybanks lived a fifteen-minute drive from the Chateau and with every minute Kiara felt her adrenaline decreasing, behind replaced with anxiety.</p><p class="p1">“You don’t need to do this, Kiara” JJ finally spoke as they reached the block before his, “you don’t know him, okay? I know him, Kie!”</p><p class="p1">She kept her eyes on the road, her knuckles turning white as they gripped the steering wheel.</p><p class="p1">“Come on, Kie!” JJ pleaded.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">She pulled in to stop in front of his house. JJ was still staring at her as she unbuckled her seatbelt and put her hand on the door.</p><p class="p1">“I’m doing this, J. He won’t hurt me.”</p><p class="p1">“You can’t take that risk!”</p><p class="p1">“Then don’t make me take it alone!”</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">The silence inside the car made Kiara feel like screaming.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">With a sigh JJ opened his door and slammed it behind him.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">The walk up to the house seemed to take forever.</p><p class="p1">“Well his car is gone, that’s a good sign, right?” Kiara fell into step beside JJ as they made it to the porch.</p><p class="p1">JJ scoffed.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">“Yeah or he sold it for something stupid.”</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">The front door opened quietly, a surprise, and they stepped in, JJ sweeping Kiara behind him as he peered into the living room and kitchen, walking softly. His arm was wrapped around her, holding her close to his back and she wasn’t going to argue.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">His room was small, very JJ like, covered in posters from surfing magazines. He closed it behind them and crossed to the cupboard by his bed, pulling out a backpack and a duffle bag. They immediately set to work of his drawers, stuffing everything into the duffle bag until it was full, then JJ set about his room, snatching up personal items and shoving them into the backpack.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">Somewhere outside, a pair of footsteps approached them.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">“Shit” JJ muttered, he put a finger to his lips and continued to grab various items from around the room. The bathroom door clicked shut and JJ sped up his movements ever so slightly.</p><p class="p1">“Okay. Yeah, okay, that’s everything.”</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">Kiara stood up and looked at the door. Bile was rising in her throat at the thought of Luke Maybank standing behind it. JJ hadn’t come home since John B and Sarah had left and judging by the state JJ was in when she and Pope had found him in the hot tub, whatever was going through Luke’s mind when he thought about JJ wasn’t pretty.</p><p class="p1">“You take my hand okay? Don’t you dare stop walking for anything. If he comes out, keep walking Kiara, I’m serious.” JJ’s jaw was set as he gripped the door handle.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">He twisted it and the slightest click came from the movement. Deafening.</p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p1">They’d made it to the front door when a loud laugh boomed behind them.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">“Well look what the cat dragged in!” Luke slurred, he was leaning against the wall, a foul grin on his face, “come back for more son? Wasn’t my boat enough? Oh! And you brought one of your sluts with you! How sweet.”</p><p class="p1">JJ pushed Kiara towards the door, facing his father.</p><p class="p1">“Don’t you dare call her that.”</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">Luke scoffed.</p><p class="p1">“Or what?” He looked past JJ to speak to Kiara directly, she felt her throat tighten as he took a step forwards, “you’ll learn what he is soon enough, he’ll leave you just like his mother did.”</p><p class="p1">Anger flooded through Kiara’s veins as the adrenaline returned to her body, she moved to step forwards but JJ’s arm came out to block her.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">“<em>KIE!”</em> He hissed, not taking his eyes off his father.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">“Don’t you dare act like JJ is the reason she left you ASSHOLE!” He voice rose to a shout and the smile slid off Luke’s face, replaced with a cold sneer.</p><p class="p1">“What did you just say to me?”</p><p class="p1">Kiara put her hand on the doorknob behind her and gripped the back of JJ’s shirt with the other.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">“I said, you’re an abusive piece of shit and JJ isn’t the reason your wife left you,” she turned the handle and pulled JJ with her backwards through the door. They raced down the stairs as Kiara called over her shoulder to finish her sentence, “YOU ASSHOLE!”</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">“<em>Fucksake Kiara!”</em> JJ was struggling to keep his voice down as she unlocked the car. The door banged open again and she turned to see Luke storming down the steps.</p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p1">Neither of them bothered with seatbelts as Kiara slammed the car into reverse.</p><p class="p1">The car jolted and she whipped her head up to see Luke Maybank’s fist on the hood of her car. He was screaming , calling her a good for nothing whore but blood was roaring in her ears as she sped off and into the street.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">The drive home took half the time it usually would have and Kiara thanked god that there were no cops patrolling that day.</p><p class="p1">JJ was beside her, hands twisting the strap of his backpack as he muttered to himself.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">Once the door closed behind JJ hen they reached the Chateau, he exploded.</p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p1">“What the FUCK was that Kie?” He’d dropped his bags by the doorway and was advancing on her quickly, “you could have gotten hurt! You could have gotten fucking killed! Did that not cross your mind? If he’d beat his own son bloody then he’d have <em>zero</em> problems hitting you!.”</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">Kiara took a deep breath and a few short steps backwards, coming to stop when the small of her back hit the counter.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1"><em>fuck</em>.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">The footsteps stopped.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">“Kie?”</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">JJ was still, in the middle of the kitchen, staring at her with tears in his eyes. Her hands were gripping the bench behind her and she was wide eyed.</p><p class="p1">“Did you think that I wou- holy fuck did you think I was going to hit you?” His voice was so low, so gentle and Kiara felt a single tear slide down her cheek.</p><p class="p1">“Jesus fuck Kie!” And in a few steps, JJ had his arms around her, gripping her so tightly she thought she might break.</p><p class="p1">“God Kie, never you. For everything in the world, I would never <em>ever</em> hurt you.”</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">A dry sob heaved from her chest and she leant into him. JJ’s hands were moving around her body, soothing circles on the small of her back, one behind her head, on her his, around her waist. He was everywhere. </p><p class="p1">He pulled back to look at her, still so close to her face that she could only focus on his eyes. His hands came up to hold the sides of her head.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">“I will never,”</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">A kiss on her temple.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">“Ever,”</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">A kiss on her forehead.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <em>“Ever,”</em>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <em>A kiss between her eyes.</em>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">“hurt you.”</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">Kie looked down at her shoes and mumbled.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">“Hey, what was that?” His voice was still so gentle.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">“I said I’m sorry I thought you would, JJ.” Kiara felt foolish as she looked at her best friend, his hands were resting on her waist and if she wanted to, really if she felt like it she could totally just lean forward an-.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">The phone rang.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">The phone hadn’t rung in weeks and honestly, JJ had thought it was turned off. A look of confusion crossed his face and he walked over to picked up on the third ring, turning the volume up so that they could both listen. Maybe it was about the house? Had someone called the cops on Luke?</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">“JJ? Kie? Pope?”</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">“<em>HOLY SHIT”</em></p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <em>“JOHN B?”</em>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">The pair both screamed down the line and received a laugh in response.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">“Yes, you idiots! We did it! We’re in the Bahamas guys! <em>We found the gold</em>!</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <b>
    <em>+1</em>
  </b>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">Sarah and John B had made it home two long weeks after their call to the Chateau. Pope was allowed off his essential house arrest and they all gathered at the Chateau to talk.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">“Well, this is homely!” Had been the first thing out of John B’s mouth when he stepped through the door. Kiara and JJ had been in the middle of making dinner when the front door had opened with a clatter.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">Kiara dropped the knife to the bench and promptly burst into tears, sprinting to John B. JJ had waited until she was done before practically shoving past her to get to his best friend. Sarah had been encompassed in Kiara’s hug and both girls were a mess. They cried. All of them cried.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <em>I love you I’m so sorry for everything.</em>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <em>We should have called I’m so sorry.</em>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">They’d helped the pair put their things into John B’s room before Kiara, still shocked, set about to finishing dinner. John B called Pope and got screams down the phone in response followed by <em>there in ten!</em></p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">Sarah was sitting on the bench while Kie cooked, telling her all about the hunt for the gold and pirates and crashed ships before she suddenly looked up and across at her boyfriend.</p><p class="p1">“You’ve both made yourselves quite at home here, haven’t you?” She asked the pair. JJ and Kie told them about the run-in with JJ’s dad and how Kiara had refused to go home since. Her parents had come to talk to her and she had barricaded herself in the bathroom until they promised she could stay. The two of them had been sharing Big john’s room, not wanting to use John B’s seeing as he would be occupying it shortly.</p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p1">“Yeah so all my stuff is here and the lesson learned is that JJ snores like a bastard when he’s tired.” Kie laughed over a bottle of beer. Dinner was cooking and they’d started to drink. No one wanted to get drunk though, wanting to save this memory forever.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">JJ went to protest but Pope almost bolted through the door to get to John B.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">After a long night of hugging and crying and catching up the Pogues all went down to the police station, demanding to see Sheriff Shoupe immediately. The man looked like he’d seen a ghost when he saw who was asking for him. He took both John B and Sarah’s statements before issuing an arrest warrant on both Rafe and Ward. Pope, Kiara and JJ were sitting in the entry room as the two men were walked in in handcuffs and Rafe lunged for JJ who surprisingly didn’t even react.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">The nights were long and tedious and so was the wait for the ruling of the ownership of the gold. The local government fought long and hard for the gold to belong to the city, but the Pogues came out on top when a clause on finder’s laws was found by Pope one night. With their only lawyer being a public defender, the five of them had had to work hard to keep coming back with updated information.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">Then one day it was all over. Sarah’s brother and father were given life sentences for homicide and assisted homicides for the murders of Big John and Sheriff Peterkin, which hit Sarah a week later when they were all at the Chateau. The local news was doing an evening report on their convictions and she burst into tears. She and John B had to go to counselling for a short while which was for the best, even if it meant lost time.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">The five Pogues moved in to the Chateau, with Pope alternating between there and home.</p><p class="p1">Their small fortune was now truly theirs to keep and JJ got a long and hard lecture from Kiara about not buying another stupid spa.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <em>Seeing as you never sold the last one you’ll do just fine with the original piece of junk, idiot!</em>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <em>Kie! The Cat’s Ass is no piece of junk!</em>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">That night Kiara and Sarah spent the night out on the HMS Pogue. The nights were getting cooler now and tonight was one of the few that wasn’t freezing cold.</p><p class="p1">“You and JJ are quite domestic, have you noticed?” Sarah said all of a sudden, passing the joint back to Kiara who was sprawled across the front of the boat. The stars above them were glittering.</p><p class="p1">“I hadn’t really”, Kie said, taking a long drag, “I mean, we had to spend all out time together for so long, I guess that’s just how it ends up.”</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">Sarah hummed, nodding to herself.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">“It's not really like that though, between you and JJ I mean. You don’t seem like you’re just two friends spending time together, its more like a couple who have been living together for years.</p><p class="p1">Kie coughed on her inhale, passing it back to Sarah to wipe the tears from her eyes.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <em>Couple?</em>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">Sure she and JJ had kissed like once a few years ago, and yeah they were sharing a bed, and her parents gave her <em>the talk </em>when she moved in with him the other month<em>, </em>and she woke up with her head on his chest most mornings, and</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">Holy shit.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">She sat up with a start and whirled to face her friend.</p><p class="p1">“I think I like him, Sarah!”</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">Sarah laughed, a bright sound that floated around them in the humid air.</p><p class="p1">“<em>NO SHIT YOU LIKE HIM!”</em></p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">Kie was taken aback. Was it really that obvious?</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">“But… But I kissed Pope!”</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">“Yeah, idiot, you did, but you didn’t do it again, did you?”</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">Shit.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">“It doesn’t matter, Sar, he doesn’t like me back and that’s that.” She took the joint back from Sarah and took another long drag.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">Sarah’s mouth was agape, staring dumbstruck.</p><p class="p1">“You’re kidding, right?”</p><p class="p1">Kid shook her head, looking equally as lost.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">“He practically told John B outright that you guys almost kissed a few weeks ago. After you went to his dads? Yeah then.”</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">“Uhhhh” yeah really intelligent Kiara, “no I thought about it but he didn’t do anything! I mean he kissed my face, but he scared me! I think he was just being cautious.”</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">“WOAH! Kissed your face?” Sarah was grinning, “no way, that’s way more intimate than an actual normal kiss! Like kissed your cheek or?”</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">Kie pointed to the three places he’d kissed her.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">“<em>Kiara!”</em></p><p class="p1">“What?”</p><p class="p1">“No, that’s it. The boy is in <em>love</em> with you, im calling it!”</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">Kie spent the rest of the night replaying the past two months in her head, the almost kiss, waking up to him smiling at her or ready with a coffee, the way he knew her order whenever they went out for dinner or lunch. Maybe Sarah was right.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">The next night the Pogues had all stayed, with Pope taking the pullout while Sarah and John B went to his room and Kie and JJ kept their room. Everyone shuffled off at around midnight to brush teeth and shower and whatnot. Kie took extra time in the shower, cleaning the dirt and sand from her body and conditioning her hair to oblivion. Summer took a toll on curls, salt water was not her friend in some aspects.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">Wrapping a towel around her body, Kiara decided to put Sarah’s theory to the test. Usually, she changed in the bathroom, as to not add any tension to her and JJ’s relationship. Sharing a bed with him was more than enough. Now she stepped out into the hall and walked to their door quietly calling goodnight to Pope who waved back with a smile.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">With a deep breath, Kie opened the bedroom door stepped in. JJ looked up to the sound of the door closing.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">“Hey Kie, there’s a-“ his words died on the way to his lips and she watched as he swallowed thickly before trying again, “there’s a beach walk tomorrow for the wildlife sanctuary.”</p><p class="p1">“That’s really nice of you to mention that, J!” She smiled at him, making her way to the dresser.</p><p class="p1">“Yeah…” he petered off mid-sentence, “thought you’d wanna go?”</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">Kie slipped her underwear on under her towel, humming in response. She made careful movements as to not lose her towel. Next were her shorts which she also put on under her towel. She checked in her peripheral to make sure the angle wouldn’t reveal anything before undoing her towel, placing it on top of the dresser and moving for the shirt.</p><p class="p1">JJ made an unintelligent noise and Kiara smirked to herself. Sarah was going to love this.</p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p1">Once she was sure nothing had been revealed, she hung her towel off the back of the chair in the corner and turned to the bed. JJ’s eyes snapped away from her, returning to his phone silently.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">Kie felt her heart slamming in her throat as she slipped into bed next to him, rolling over to face him.</p><p class="p1">“What time does it start?”</p><p class="p1">JJ looked genuinely confused.</p><p class="p1">“The walk?”</p><p class="p1">“Oh, yeah the walk! Uhh, 10 I think?”</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">“Alright!,” she rolled over and picked up the book on her bedside table.</p><p class="p1">JJ’s breathing was heavy and she noticed out the corner of her eye the way he kept wiping at his face and smoothing his hair back, making short glances over at her.</p><p class="p1">“You okay?”</p><p class="p1">“Yeah, peachy!” His voice was too bright.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">“J?”</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">He put his phone on the nightstand and slip down, rolling onto his side to face her.</p><p class="p1">“What are you doing, Kie?”</p><p class="p1">“Reading?”</p><p class="p1">“No,” he took the book from her, ignoring her protests, leaning across her to place it face down on her bedside table, “I mean this,” he gestured between them, “<em>That.</em>” He waved towards the dresser.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">Kie gave a small smile and shook her head as if trying to understand what he was saying, even though his message was clear as day.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <em>Are you trying to do something with me? Something that changes everything?</em>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">“I got changed, JJ. I didn’t think it would bother you.”</p><p class="p1">JJ was still leaning close to her, not fully settled.</p><p class="p1">“The changing bit didn’t bother me, Kie. Its the way it made me feel.”</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <em>shit</em>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">“the.. the what?” Kiara managed to strangle out.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">“Oh don’t act stupid. I’ve been into you for like ten years and <em>now</em> you decide to give it a go?”</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <em>Ten years?</em>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">JJ must have thought she didn’t quite get it because he kept going.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">“Kiara, for so long I wanted to be with you but you made that stupid rule and held up at gunpoint to keep it! I didn’t want to push you so I didn’t make a move. I’ve liked you since the fourth grade, Kiara!”</p><p class="p1">He was sitting up now and Kie scrambled to meet his eye level.</p><p class="p1">“I wanted you to be mine for so long and then you kissed me at that bonfire and everything I had worked so hard to hide just flew back up! Then you kissed John B and <em>then </em>Pope and I thought ‘wow maybe she really didn’t care’. And now I’ve been living here with you for <em>two months</em>, Kie. I got to spend a month playing house with you and only you, no Pope, no John B and Sarah, no one else to think about but you and god help me I enjoyed it. And now I wake up every single day and, Kiara, you’re the first thing I see!”</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">JJ’s hand came to rest on her cheek, sending chills down her spine.</p><p class="p1">“Do you know what that’s like? To love someone who doesn’t feel the same way?” He froze.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">“Say that again, JJ.”</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">He shook his head.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">“JJ, say it.”</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">“I love you, Kie. I’ve loved you for as long as I can remember and I don’t plan on stopping, so if you don’t want me then please just go.”</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">He looked so downtrodden like he knew the answer would be no but still hoped for a yes.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">Kie brought her hand to his.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">“You’re not leaving?”</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">“That’s observant.”</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">And then she was kissing him.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">It was nothing like the first time, tasting like whiskey and hot and. Heavy and full of something neither of them had understood yet. This was slow and careful like they were afraid that, if the moment ended, it would all fall away.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">And when it did end, nothing fell.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">Kiara woke in JJ’s arms to the sound of laughter.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">In the doorway stood the Pogues, phones out and whispering to each other.</p><p class="p1">“Oh, guys!” Sarah batted their phones, “morning?”</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">JJ sat up, his arm still around her waist as he rubbed his eyes.</p><p class="p1">“Babe, why the fuck are there people in our bedroom at,” he glanced at the sun beaming through the window, “fuck off o’clock?”</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">A groan came from the doorway and they watched as the exchanging of bills took place, Pope and John B handing Sarah two $20 notes which she took with a ‘thank you <em>very</em> much’.</p><p class="p1">“And just to be clear,” Sarah said from where she leant on the doorframe, “this has been going on for?”</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">Kiara reached over to her bedside table, the action drawing grunts of protest from JJ, who thumped back onto his pillow.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">11:17</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">“Eleven hours?”</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">“Oh <em>yes,</em> baby! Not even a day later! What did I say?” Sarah cheered, turning to face the boys.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">“<em>Not even a day</em>” they grumbled in unison.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">“Well,” Sarah spun back to face them, leaning forward to grab the door handle, “you two have a good morning now!” And with that they were gone, accompanied by the sound of footsteps and their voices laughing and chattering away.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">“Well, that was fun!” Kiara chirped, lying back down and turning to face JJ.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">His blonde hair was fluffy from sleep and his eyes were barely open.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">“Good morning, Kie.”</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">“Good morning, JJ.”</p><p class="p2"> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>come say hi on tumblr @simpforjiara<br/>or check out my instagram @svaintz<br/>&lt;3</p></blockquote></div></div>
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